Ah, the first Tuesday in November. Depending on where you are, the temprature could be getting warmer or colder. Leaves could be turning colors, or you may not even have leaves to look at. But none of these things matter when compared to the political buzz that surrounds Americans during this time of year. Verily, it is at this time when US citizens choose their political leaders. But here at MMORPGamer, we care about video games more than, well, pretty much anything else. Thus, we've decided to take a poll of our own, on election day to boot.

We'll meet the "canidates," take a look at each of their features and promises, note early pre-voting hype, and then cast our votes. Since this is a part of the site focusing on MMORPGs, our two major-party canidates will be represented by the two most hyped MMORPGs of right now, both of which will be released in November, World of Warcraft and EverQuest II.

But like the real elections, you don't really have to vote for either of the major two parties. Third party canidate Ultima Online: Samurai Empire is making a run for the top much like those canidates you never really hear about.

So let's get on with it. Here are the two (or three) major MMORPGs coming out in November, and what they have to say for themselves. "Voter turnout" will be counted by how many people actually choose a game on the ballot.

Norath has been pummeled by pieces of the moon. Rebuild the near-destroyed planet and stake your claim in it.

KNOCK STUFF OVER! ...Er, strategically...

Closing Point

The sequel to the game that has been the target of more drug references than any other game ever.

Setting aside FFXI, this game is reportedly drawing in a higher number of younger players than is found in most MMORPGs.

That Other Canidate

This is the third party canidate mainly because it is getting considerably less hype than the above two games. Toss in the fact that it's an expansion pack, whereas the other two are not, and Samurai Empire is our third party by default. The expansion adds the Samurai and Ninja cultures to the well-respected Ultima Online franchise. The UO community is pretty excited for the release of this expansion pack. Those who preoder are entreated to a "soul stone," which grants the ability to store skill points or move skill points from one character to another. I spoke to a UO veteran on IRC who said, "I don't even care if the expansion is crap. I want that stone!" More info can be found in this MMORPGamer Column and the official website.

Well, if early indications on this Freaking Hype Meter are anywhere near realistic, this is going to be a tight race, but then again, that's just a crappy MS Paint image, so we can't really judge yet. Also, Pokemon Online isn't a real game, but it's on the meter because of the many emails I got on the subject. Those aren't funny anymore.

The real column will be up in a few days. I'm gathering up impressions of this Guild Wars preview event and plenty of other good stuffage. Thanks for reading and voting. This was fun. If you have any questions, comments, or news tips, feel free to email me.